One of Australia’s leading iconographers, Michael Galovic, is playing a major part in not only renewing Rosebery’s St Joseph’s Church but also the Catholic community in Sydney’s inner city.
His latest work, The Crucifixion Subsumed, will be placed in front of the baptismal font, while two other works, Mary Help of Christians and St Joseph, will be placed either side of the tabernacle.
Fr Paul Smithers believes people respond to beautiful things and hopes the contemporary icons will help attract people to the parish.
“I knew I wanted to do something really beautiful and I was reading The Catholic Weekly and there was a piece on the new Rosemeadow Church and I thought ‘wow who’s done those icons’,” he said.
“Michael is a distinguished artist in the life of the Church today and we are thrilled with him and his works.”
A four-times finalist in the Blake Prize for religious art, he has produced more than 100 commissions for religious institutions around Australia and is thrilled with the reaction to his latest work.
Inspired by Matthias Grünewald’s Isenheim Altar, it depicts the Life, Death and Resurrection of Christ, the mystery of our faith.
“I am always elated when my work turns extraordinary, the comments have been amazing by all who have laid eyes on it,” he said. “I am very eager and keen on breaking new ground, finding new ways to present religious art.”
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